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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><FONT size=5><FONT face=Calibri>
Reuel Amdur, M.S.W., R.S.W., A.C.S.W.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face=Calibri><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: FR-CA"
lang=FR-CA><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 2">
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: FR-CA"
lang=FR-CA><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>41, chemin Lavoie<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 2">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: FR-CA"
lang=FR-CA><FONT face=Calibri>Val-des-Monts QC J8N 7N2<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
face=Calibri><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: FR-CA"
lang=FR-CA><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 3">
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">August 20,
2012<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Calibri>To : Members of Ottawa City
Council<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Calibri>Re: Hospital records and
ODSP<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Calibri>This is to protest the cancellation
of the long-standing practice of Employment and Financial Assistance of
assisting lawyers handling appeals for clients seeking benefits under the
Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>The assistance in question is the ordering of hospital records.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Such records come to EFA without charge,
while to lawyers operating under Legal Aid they come at a price.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Calibri>Lawyers become involved when legal
clinics are overloaded and refer cases to Legal Aid.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Lawyers anticipate reimbursement by
Legal Aid, but there is a cash flow issue as Legal Aid is slow in paying.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As well, it is not clear that Legal Aid
will reimburse in all cases.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Let me
give an example where that could have been a problem if the City had not ordered
the records.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Calibri>John was sexually abused by his
newly-widowed mother.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Consequently,
as an adult he suffered serious emotional difficulties, including alcoholism,
homelessness, and transience.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His
application for ODSP was turned down.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>The key reason given was the absence of hospital records to verify the
problem.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We ordered records from
across the country, some ten or a dozen.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>His appeal was successful.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>If we had not been able to order the records through the department, the
cost would have been in the thousands.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>As it was, the cost was nothing.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>It is quite doubtful that Legal Aid would have been willing to reimburse
the amount that would have been incurred.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Calibri>There is good reason for the City to
order hospital records for appeals, beyond the clear benefit to the client.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Every Ontario Works client who is
transferred to ODSP saves the city money, as OW benefits are cost-shared, while
ODSP benefits are paid by the province in full.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is not surprising that Dick Stewart,
a former head of the Department, said, “I am sad to hear that the City would
take this position.”<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Calibri>In justifying the reversal of this
practice, Dr. Aaron Burry states that ordering the records “has not been the
practice for several years now.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He
is simply wrong.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I have been
ordering records through the department since I began working with lawyers on
appeals, going back to the turn of the century.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Dr. Burry is apparently unaware of what
has been going on in EFA.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Calibri>Both Dr. Burry and Mary Jane Coburn,
in charge of Issues Management, Stakeholder Relations, to whom Dr. Burry
assigned this matter, allude to a time when, in his words, “we had a more
involved role in the ODSP application process.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She referred to the time before the Rae
government abolished the layman’s medical, a form that workers completed,
concerning the functioning abilities of clients, to accompany the application
for disability benefits.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I was a
supervisor in the department at that time, and it is simply false that the
layman’s medical or its elimination had anything to do with the ordering of
hospital records.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In fact, hospital
records are still being ordered by EFA specialists working on ODSP
referrals.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As one of the
specialists told me regarding the new refusal, “That’s crazy.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I order hospital records all the time.”
It is okay before rejection, not apparently for
appeals.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Calibri>Dick Stewart sums up the problem this
way: “The folks in charge now have no history and no appreciation for the client
benefits of getting to ODSP.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His
comment about appreciation may allude to Dr. Burry’s lack of experience in
social assistance.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Calibri>To the issue of a time when the
department was more active on the ODSP file:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>there has never been such a time, though
the current attitude at the top may mean that there will be a shift.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>EFA is more involved on the ODSP file
today than it has ever been.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Each
office has staff assigned to seeking out and assisting clients needing to apply
and to follow through to appeal if rejected.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In addition, the City funds Centre 454
for an outreach program that I instigated to help people apply.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The results have been sufficiently
positive that, in these times of tight money, the City increased the funding for
this program.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Calibri>The one question, asked over and
over, is why the change?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>No answer
has been given.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>No reason, it
appears. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is just departmental
policy.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Calibri>Ordering hospital records is of
benefit to the clients of EFA.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In
these times of tight budgets, it is also just good
stewardship.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Calibri>On a supplementary note, I attempted
to raise this concern with two advisory committees, Health and Social Services
and Poverty Issues.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Departmental
staff prevented the matter going to the committees.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is, they argued, outside their
mandate, which is to advise Council.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>The mandate of the Poverty Issues Advisory Committee is “to provide
advice to Ottawa City Council, through the Community and Protective Services
Committee, and its Departments, on issues that impact and address poverty in the
City.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Presumably, Council could
seize itself of this matter.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>However, your bureaucracy has forced onto the advisory committees a
narrow interpretation of their function.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Committee members might well want to consider if they are wasting their
time.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>